The cells in our body continuously keep each other informed. They do this by exchanging, among other things, virus-like vesicles. Pascale Zimmermann’s group, from the Department of Human Genetics, has been studying these vesicles for many years. Her fundamental research is necessary to use these intercellular messengers in medicine.
For a long time so-called extracellular vesicles were considered as garbage bags. By wrapping their waste products in a membrane and then rejecting them, cells would keep things inside clean and in order. Until in the 1980s, it became clear that these extracellular vesicles were not ordinary waste containers at all. They turned out to be messengers that transfer signaling substances from one cell to another. ...
